Disgraced Penn State football coach Joe Paterno said he left allegations his former defensive coordinator was raping young boys to university officials — rather than police — because he “didn’t know” how to handle the scandal that would cost him his job, in the coach’s first interview since he was fired in November.

Paterno, speaking to The Washington Post, said he was afraid of “making a mistake” after assistant coach Mike McQueary told him in 2002 he saw ex-defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky engaged in sexual conduct with a young boy in a locker room, but insisted McQueary was vague in his allegations.

“I didn’t know exactly how to handle it and I was afraid to do something that might jeopardize what the university procedure was,” Paterno, 85, said in an interview posted on the newspaper’s website today.

“So I backed away and turned it over to some other people, people I thought would have a little more expertise than I did. It didn’t work out that way.”

The 67-year-old Sandusky is charged with sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period, many of whom he allegedly met through a charity he founded, The Second Mile.

Paterno was fired four days after Sandusky was charged in November, and two Penn State administrators are facing charges they lied to a grand jury investigating Sandusky and failed to properly report suspected child abuse. Gary Schultz, a former vice president, and Tim Curley, the athletic director, have denied the allegations and await trial.

Sandusky maintains his innocence and remains out on $250,000 bail while awaiting trial.

In the interview, Paterno said McQueary was vague about what he saw in the locker room shower — although court documents released after Sandusky’s arrest say McQueary testified he saw Sandusky apparently sodomizing the 10-year-old boy.

“He [McQueary] was very upset and I said why, and he was very reluctant to get into it,” Paterno said. “He told me what he saw, and I said, what? He said it, well, looked like inappropriate, or fondling, I’m not quite sure exactly how he put it. I said you did what you had to do. It’s my job now to figure out what we want to do. So I sat around. It was a Saturday. Waited till Sunday because I wanted to make sure I knew what I was doing. And then I called my superiors and I said, ‘Hey, we got a problem, I think. Would you guys look into it?’ Cause I didn’t know, you know. We never had, until that point, 58 years I think, I had never had to deal with something like that. And I didn’t feel adequate.”

“I didn’t know which way to go,” he said. “And rather than get in there and make a mistake . . .” he added, before trailing off.

Paterno also told The Washington Post he didn’t know about a police report filed in 1998 by a woman that alleged Sandusky had fondled her son, who was involved with Second Mile.

“You know it wasn’t like it was something everybody in the building knew about,” Paterno told the newspaper. “Nobody knew about it.”

Paterno, who is battling lung cancer and a fractured pelvis, has been “shunned” by the university, his son Scott told The Washington Post. But Paterno said in the interview he doesn’t have any bad blood with the school.

“You know, I’m not as concerned about me,” he said. “What’s happened to me has been great. I got five great kids. Seventeen great grandchildren. I’ve had a wonderful experience here at Penn State. I don’t want to walk away from this thing bitter. I want to be helpful.”

Paterno, the winningest coach in college football history, led the Nittany Lions to five undefeated seasons during his 46 years as head coach.